Mechanical Engineering

| Mechanical Engineer | April Aulby | | | |

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Mechanical engineering, or MEs, jobs are exciting, challenging, and rewarding, but also due to there being a high demand for licensed engineers, this being a stable career with a bright future, and income being above average, this has been a popular career choice for a long time. In fact, mechanical engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines in existence, as well as one of the most respected. Mechanical Engineers, or MEs, take an idea of a product and introduce it into the marketplace with great knowledge of the materials and research (Career opportunities, 2012). Mechanical engineering is a field that takes a certain kind of person that has special skills in math, physics, and design. It is best for a student to start taking classes while still in high school. When a person starts college as a freshman there are certain prerequisites that must be taken during their high school years, such as studying algebra for two years, and one year each of chemistry, physics, and trigonometry. Starting these studies early on would be beneficial for the time it will take a person to earn a degree in college (Key elements, 2012). Other criteria’s should be met for the mechanical engineering program, such as the ACT scores. ACT scores should be, at a minimum of 26 in math. It is also, important to find a school that will prepare a person to earn the degree employers are looking for. At minimum, employers will be looking for in a successful student, is a Bachelor’s degree. Students can secure a job with only a two-year Associates’ degree, but finding employment could be a challenge. The only advantage to this degree would be to work under someone and get the hands on experience from it (Key elements, 2012).
A more advanced degree would be a Master’s degree, and a Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Mechanical Engineering. Out of these two degrees, a student would have higher demand in career opportunities, and a higher pay salary (Key elements, 2012). Mechanical engineering comes with many job descriptions, and the title has been around for a long time. Out of all engineering careers, mechanical offers the most opportunity (Overview, 2012). When interviewing Jim Smith, who is a Mechanical project engineer, he said, he has been in the engineering field for six years and has moved up to a design team leader. Mechanical engineering has an array of areas to concentrate on, transportation, working with the environment, computers, biomedical, fuels, and nuclear power are just a few to choose from. Being an engineer will require working one on one, or working in a team environment; Depending on the size of the company. Some areas focus on research and laboratory work. In a minimal situation, a mechanical engineer description could be just using math skills to design a product (Overview, 2012). “In 2002, mechanical engineers had around 215,000 jobs.” The employment of mechanical engineers is expected to be on the rise through 2012. With all the new machinery, mechanical engineers will have further jobs available to them (Mechanical engineering careers, 2012). The earnings according to the” National Association of Colleges and Employers,” in 2003, the top earned with a PhD, was 69,904, with the lowest earnings being 48,585 a year (Employment outlook, 2012). Smith said the starting salary at his firm, with a BS in mechanical engineering is around 55k, a year. Mechanical Engineering offers a range of advantages, such as job security, excellent benefits, advancement opportunities, and salary, but with all the advantages there are some disadvantages to the career. Long working hours, meeting high expectations in the classroom, meeting job requirements, in a time where the economy is very competitive, undergoing long training hours for at least two years , and working on projects in a team setting, where they can be more time consuming(M.E. Disadvantages, 2012). There may be some travel involved for meetings, and conferences to stay current on new things within the field (Employment outlook, 2012). Smith said when he advanced in his job he took on more responsibilities, but he simply accepts that work is work and eventually he will get rewarded for it as long as he does a good job. I chose Mechanical Engineering, as my topic, because the discipline of mechanical engineering is all about pushing the boundaries of technology. Creating things, develop things, plan structures and look into detail the advantages and disadvantages of these tools in society. Mechanical engineering, as noted earlier, is an interdisciplinary program. A person will need to a have solid background on a variety of subjects and ideas so that they can have a holistic approach when taking on a project. Another reason I chose to do my paper on this career is the fact that my son is going into this professional, and I could have a better understanding of exactly what a Mechanical engineer is. With all the research I have done, I believe this career is a perfect fit for him.

Reference
Andrews,N. (N.D). Mechanical engineer disadvantages. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_10004398
Careers. (ND). Mechanical engineering careers, jobs, and employment career information. Retrieved from http://www.careeroverview.com/mechanicalengineering
College of Engineering. (2012). Mechanical information for future students. Retrieved from http://www.engr.colostate.edu/employmentoutlook
Mechanical Engineering Job Description. (N.D). Overview of the mechanical engineering job description. Retrieved from http://www.mechanicalengineering-jobs.net/overview
Smith, J. (2012, Oct. 12). Interviewed at Starbucks, Lee Blvd., Shelbyville

The Trustees of Indiana University. (2012). What is mechanical engineering. Retrieved from http://www.iupuc.edu/mechanicalengineering/careers